Impact of Power - Tommy: Green
by JTrevizo
Summary: Following the loss of his powers, Tommy endures "Power Ranger Day", and a chance encounter afterwards changes his viewpoint of the Green Ranger. The fourth in the Impact of Power Series (see the Community to follow the series!).


10/19/2012

From: JTrevizo

Rating: K (maybe K+)…

Spoiler: MMPR to "Doomsday Pt2"

Disclaimer: Power Rangers belonged to Saban, then to Disney, and now are owned by Saban again. I'm so confused…

Summary: Following the loss of his powers, Tommy endures "Power Ranger Day", and a chance encounter afterwards changes his viewpoint of the Green Ranger.

Hi all. This is the fourth in a series of vignettes focused on former power rangers and how they find what they accomplished under the helmet had bigger impacts than just saving the world. Other stories are being posted under the Impact of Power title by other authors such as Pink_Green_White_4ever, ScarletDeva and Shawn30. A community is also now set up where all the series will be archived, as well as my home website. I hope you enjoy, and now, to the story. . .

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Impact of Power: Tommy [Green Ranger]  
By JTrevizo

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Tommy stood in the remains of the dispersing crowd, the rangers having already departed after having been recognized. He figured in a while he'd catch up with all of them at the juice bar and talk as openly as they could about their experience at "Power Rangers Day".

As he turned to leave he heard a small child wailing and found himself drawn to the cry. Maybe fifty feet away an older man was standing with a little boy, no more than six who was sitting on the ground, crying and complaining. It sounded like a mini-tantrum and he wondered the reason considering most of the kids had been ecstatic to have seen the power rangers live and in person.

Not really knowing what possessed him to get involved, Tommy wandered over towards the two and as he got closer he could see the boy better. What he saw shocked him.

The child was wearing a homemade Green Ranger shirt.

He'd seen the ones that were being mass produced. They were the five main colors; the original team before he'd joined them. But there wasn't a green one... yet here was this little boy with a Green Ranger shirt.

The surprise made him blink several times before the sound of crying gave way to whimpering as the little boy seemed to be moving on to a new phase of his tantrum. Before he knew what he was doing he was moving closer to the two and turned his eyes on the adult.

"Is everything okay?" he asked the older man, who looked up from the boy and gave a small smile.

"Stephen's just upset his favorite ranger wasn't here."

"Dad, where was the Green Ranger?" Stephen said, looking up now at his father and the new person who had just joined them.

"I don't know, Stevie... maybe he was busy. If the other rangers were here maybe he had to stay behind to protect us."

"But I wanted to see him!"

"I know..." calmly explained his father, sighing a bit at his son's determined behavior regarding his favorite ranger.

Tommy looked from the child to the father and couldn't help blurting out, "your son came to Power Ranger Day to see the Green Ranger?"

"Yeah..."

"Why?" asked Tommy, still bewildered that someone would be here to see him when the original five - Jason, Kim, Zack, Trini and Billy had been there...

"He's the best!" shouted Stevie as he got to his feet, his earlier unhappiness at not having seen his favorite ranger having been replaced by the chance to tell this teen stranger about the Green Ranger.

"But... he was evil..."

Tommy just couldn't get his head around how this young boy could idolize the Green Ranger. Memories of sending the Dragonzord into the downtown while he was under Rita's spell filled his mind. He'd joined the others once Jason had broken the Sword of Darkness and with it the spell on him to try and repair the damage he'd caused. But to now be considered equal to the others... have little kids look up to him...

"I explained to Stephen that yes, when the Green Ranger first came to Angel Grove he did some bad things. We know he attacked the rangers and the people of the city. But then he was seen helping the rangers, saving people... It was a good lesson for him about mistakes and forgiveness."

"The Green Ranger just made a mistake," said Stevie with that childlike innocence that made Tommy's throat close up.

"So you think that he was really a good guy, just... he made a mistake?" asked Tommy, genuinely curious.

"The other rangers wouldn't have worked with him if he was really a bad guy."

Tommy paused and looked from Stephen to his dad and saw the unwavering belief in that statement in their eyes. That even after everything the Green Ranger had done to hurt the people of Angel Grove that the simple act of joining the rangers had wiped away people's perception of him as a villain.

That he'd been forgiven his 'mistake'.

That he was perceived by this little boy and his dad as just as much a hero as Jason or Billy or Zack... it blew him away.

"Well, maybe the next time they have Power Ranger Day he'll be here," suggested Tommy, even though he knew full well that that his days as a power ranger were over. A lump of green wax was all that remained of his career as the Green Ranger.

At that Stevie smiled brightly, the prospect of seeing his hero another day drying any remaining tears and he clamored up from his place on the grass and regarded Tommy with big eyes that spoke of his undying loyalty to the ranger that he believed wasn't just as much a hero as the others, but one that had obviously fixed his mistake.

Which was something Tommy had struggled with for the long months following his release from Rita's clutches. He'd lost his powers still feeling like he hadn't fully atoned for everything he'd done. But having seen little Stevie and his dad's belief in the Green Ranger Tommy had to say he actually wondered if perhaps he'd been too hard on himself. That the months with the team made up for the week he'd fought against them.

Instantly he found himself feeling a little lighter and better than he had since he'd lost the Green Ranger powers.

"Well, it's been nice talking to you," said Stevie's dad as he reached down to grab his son's hand before they turned to leave the park the opposite direction.

As Tommy watched, Stevie looked back over his shoulder and waved and Tommy waved back, a smile on his face. He reminded himself that even if it had been just for a short time, his tenure as the Green Ranger had brought him the friendship of Jason and the others and the simple certainty of a little boy called Stevie that the Green Ranger was worthy of his role as a hero.

-End-

Thanks for reading! If you want to see updates to this series easier, follow the Impact of Power community/collection. And again, Legacy of Valor is still being posted, I'm trying to rotate schedules…

Ms. J.


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